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Topic: A better name for Gnomes (Read 6389 times)

I like the idea behind Gnomes, a trickster Feywild version of the Halfling. But I hate the name as it inevitably brings to mind garden gnomes.I was thinking about something along the lines of Svirfneblin, but sorta...brighter and happier. Keeping the neblin part, since that makes sense to show their connection. Svirfneblin means something along the lines of children of the mist btw.Any ideas?

WELL........ In the Dragon Lance Series their are Kender, which is a cousin of the Gnome. Very ADHD little Ba#$%ds but very friendly and welcoming.

along the lines of a different name.... maybe something like lustigneblin, "Jolly" gnomes... um or maybe wenigneblinWhat about just calling them Neblin'sMaybe Neblun?.... Call them Neblung, like the breed of Cat and give them some of their characteristics...... GleeGneblin... ?

PoisonAlchemist: Man Muro, you boost my confidence and then you just go crush it with a heartbreaking work of staggering genius.Pariah: Don't tell him things like that, if his head gets any bigger he'll float off like a weather ballon :p

Svirfneblin comes from ancient Germanic or something, which if you believe Wikipedia, is a whole bunch of languages. Unfortunately, there is no Google translate for ancient Germanic. >.< It would be cool if it meant something, but it doesn't have to. I like where you're going with it youngOne2, but it needs something that rolls off the tongue. Svirf-neblin, Bam-Bam. Weeeen-ig-neblin, that's like bam-bam-bam, y'know. The rest of you should go and have a lie down. Although, Fragneblin... nah, sounds like something out of Quake III.

PS. Axlerowes, I don't call mine halflings, just wrote it for legal purposes, mnyah. Nomeneblin....Hmm. Keep at it, guys, we'll get there.

PoisonAlchemist: Man Muro, you boost my confidence and then you just go crush it with a heartbreaking work of staggering genius.Pariah: Don't tell him things like that, if his head gets any bigger he'll float off like a weather ballon :p

Well, see. The thing is that English isn't my native tongue, so what may sound allright to you, could sound downright ridiculous in my language.Of course there's nothing to do about that, except come up with more suggestions...

What do you think about Hobbesneblin? It came to me today. It fulfills the bam-bam part at least. And while it may not mean anything, it still puts you in mind of a certain stuffed animal owned by Calvin, so you got the mischief covered. I think I'll go with that, but you're welcome to keep suggesting if you don't like it. Thanks for the help guys.

Oooh, now I need a better name for Bugbears! I mean come on, bugbears? They're not related to Owlbears as far as I know and where does the bug part come in? I seriously doubt they would refer to themselves as Bugbears.

A bugbear is a legendary creature or type of hobgoblin comparable to the bogeyman, bogeyman Budy, bugaboo, and other creatures of folklore, all of which were historically used in some cultures to frighten disobedient children.[1] Its name is derived from a Middle English word "bugge" (a frightening thing), or perhaps the old Welsh word bwg (evil spirit or goblin), [2] or old Scots "bogill" (goblin), and has cognates in German "bögge" or "böggel-mann" (goblin), and most probably also English "bugaboo" and "bogey-man". In medieval England, the Bugbear was depicted as a creepy bear that lurked in the woods to scare children; it was described in this manner in an English translation of a 1565 Italian play The Buggbear.

So there are a plethora of names to grab, Bugge, Bwg, Bogill, Bogge. You keep the strong BU syllable at the start and can get away from the idea of a half praying mantis half panda.

Okay, interesting read. So, do we have any ideas? I don't really want to have to start a new thread just over this, but I might try that if this one seems dead. If nothing else to bring in the bugbear lovers who are turned off by gnomes.

I think it matters who is naming them. Is it the race themselves? Humans? Their main enemy?

Good point. Unless the rest of the world has picked up the name they use for themselves, you are more than welcome to come up with two or three names. No doubt their own might be very guttural sounding.

Well, see. The thing is that English isn't my native tongue, so what may sound allright to you, could sound downright ridiculous in my language.Of course there's nothing to do about that, except come up with more suggestions...

Oooh, now I need a better name for Bugbears! I mean come on, bugbears? They're not related to Owlbears as far as I know and where does the bug part come in? I seriously doubt they would refer to themselves as Bugbears.

Does the irony of this comment strike you, perhaps what the foe-net-ick word 'bugbear' sounds totally baddass in their goblinish language, but to us sounds like micro organisms that live in moss or something resembling ladybugs?

Does the irony of this comment strike you, perhaps what the foe-net-ick word 'bugbear' sounds totally baddass in their goblinish language, but to us sounds like micro organisms that live in moss or something resembling ladybugs?

Bugbears would likely refer to themselves as People in their language, and everyone else as some variant of Food

But Bugbears are kinda unique in that, they share their culture as well as partial heritage with Goblins and Hobgoblins. They can't all call themselves just people, especially the hobgoblins and the bugbears probably wouldn't want to be clumped together like that with the weaker goblins. Logically, their name oughta contain goblin for obvious reasons. But I dunno... Boggoblins... That just sounds like goblins from a bog.

There's no reason why a race wouldn't call themselves "People" in their own language; that's what pretty much every language in the world has done before, even back in the days when other phenotypes were considered to be completely different species.

Yeah, but Bugbears, Goblins and Hobgoblins all speak the same language. So it would still be weird. Like if a bugbear says, hey come here ...people. And then he has to add, oh sorry I was just talking about the bugbears, not the hobgoblins and goblins.